22 January 2010

RTE.ie

A breakthrough genetic test that can identify the optimum racing distance for individual thoroughbred horses has been launched by Equinome, a University College Dublin biotech company.

The identification of the 'Speed Gene' is the first known characterisation of a gene contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbred horses, and has the potential to transform decision-making processes in the global bloodstock industry.

The thoroughbred horse racing and breeding industry is an international, multi-billion euro business, with more than 100,000 foals born each year. Using the Equinome Speed Gene test racehorse owners and trainers around the world will be able to identify if a horse is ideally suited to racing over short, middle or middle-to-long distances. With this information they can optimise purchasing and training decisions and better target suitable races for their horses.

The development of the Equinome Speed Gene test is a result of research led by Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher at the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine. The research, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, was the first academic programme in the world to apply novel genomics technologies to identify genetic contributions to racing performance in thoroughbred horses.

Following the success of the research programme, Dr Hill and Mr Jim Bolger, the renowned Irish racehorse trainer and breeder, co-founded Equinome in 2009 to commercialise the test.

The scientific data supporting the Equinome Speed Gene is published in a scientific paper entitled A sequence polymorphism in MSTN predicts sprinting ability and racing stamina in Thoroughbred horses in the open access online Public Library of Science Journal, PLoS ONE.

"Breeding techniques for Thoroughbred horses have remained relatively unchanged for centuries," said Dr Emmeline Hill. "Breeders currently rely on combining successful bloodlines together, hoping that the resulting foal will contain that winning combination of genes. Until now, whether those winning genes have or have not been inherited could only be surmised by observing the racing and breeding success of a horse over an extended period of years after its birth."

According to Dr Hill, using the Equinome Speed Gene test, a world first in equine genetics, it will now be possible to definitively know a horse's genetic type within weeks of a sample being taken, thus reducing much of the uncertainty that has been typically involved in selection, training and breeding decisions.

 

(c) RTE, 22 January 2010